Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 901–915

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Stirling engine based solar-thermal power plant with a thermo-chemical

storage system
Shantanu Acharya ⇑, Subhadeep Bhattacharjee
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Agartala, Tripura 799046, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper describes a solar-thermal run Stirling engine based uninterrupted power generating system
Received 7 March 2014 employing magnesium sulphate impregnated Zeolite pellets for thermal energy storage. In the proposed
Accepted 11 June 2014 system, Stirling engine design is based on the average temperature difference of 480 °C, assuming the
Available online 5 July 2014
heat sink temperature equal to the ambient temperature of that place. In presence of sun, Fresnel lenses
of a specially designed hybrid capsule capture solar energy and concentrate them to provide necessary
Keywords: heat for the operation of the engine. In absence of the sun, required heat is provided by the thermo-chem-
Thermal energy storage
ical energy stored in Zeolite pellets. Working methodologies, modelling and simulation of the proposed
Stirling engine
Fresnel lens capsule
system along with analyses of the obtained simulated results are presented in this paper. Possible perfor-
Solar-thermal power generation mance of the scheme at different global positions for different period of a year has also been investigated.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction engine is an external combustion engine developed by Dr. Robert

Electricity has become the fundamental necessity of modern
world. More than 80% of electrical power is generated from fossil
fuels [1]. The fixed reserve and the harmful effects of these conven-
tional fuels have compelled researchers to think of alternatives.
Scientists consider renewable energy resources as the best substi-
tute of the trendy energy sources [2,3]. Amongst all the inexhaust-
ible resources, solar energy is most abundant in terms of
generating capability and a lot of work has been done to explore
its potential on earth [4–7]. Most of the work, on solar energy for
electricity generation, is based on photovoltaic (PV) with battery
storage [2,8–11]. This paper presents a method of solar-thermal
power generating system with thermo-chemical storage (magne-
sium sulphate impregnated Zeolite pellet). The thermo-chemical
storage alleviates most of the shortcomings of traditional battery
storage system like heavy weight, fixed life span, more charging
time than discharging time, etc. In the proposed scheme, solar
tracking system, which is an indispensable part of a PV technology,
is replaced by a hybrid capsule consisting of glass and Fresnel lens
reducing the complexity and additional energy consumption
thereby decreasing expenses.
Stirling engine is the heart of the plant that converts the ther-
mal energy in solar irradiance into mechanical energy. Stirling
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9436325638/9436582874.
E-mail addresses: shantanu.acharya1@gmail.com (S. Acharya), subhadeep_
bhattacharjee@yahoo.co.in (S. Bhattacharjee).
Stirling in 1816 [12,13]. It is a closed-cycle regenerative machine
that operates on cyclic compression and expansion of the working
fluid [13]. Stirling engine has higher thermal efficiency than
Rankine cycle based system and is reported that it is cheaper than
PV unit of small capacity [14]. Some other advantages of Stirling
engine are multi-fuel capability, low noise, low fuel consumption,
capability of using various fuel sources, etc. [15]. Due to the pro-
nounced merits of Stirling engine, many researchers have shown
interest in it. Can et al. [16] developed a Beta type Stirling engine
using crank mechanism while, Aksoy and Cinar [17] performed
theoretical investigation on kinematic and thermodynamic analy-
sis of a beta type Stirling engine with rhombic-drive mechanism.
Abbas et al. worked with dish Stirling technology with hydrogen
as working fluid [18], on the other hand, Moghadam et al. [19] pro-
posed a solar dish micro-combined heat and power (CHP) system
and carried out its 3E (energy, environment and economic) based
analysis. In [20], a delta-T Stirling engine have been developed
and experimented by Boutammachte et al. under laboratory and
field condition, conversely, an unconventional liquid piston Stirling
engine pump was proposed by Van de Ven in [21] which was sup-
posed to closely match the ideal engine cycle. Solmaz and Karabu-
lut [22] explored the performance of a Stirling engine with a lever
controlled displacer driving mechanism by comparing it with a
rhombic-drive engine whereas, Karabulut et al. [23] carried out
an experimental test on a similar system and presented the results.
In the system, heat was supplied by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
burner. The maximum power of 183 W was achieved with hot end

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.06.030
0196-8904/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
902 S. Acharya, S. Bhattacharjee / Energy Conversion and Management 86 (2014) 901–915

Nomenclature

a Stirling engine constant v ratio of swept volume of compression and swept vol-
AM air mass ume of expansion
b Stirling engine constant Vdc dead volume of compression space (cm3)
c Stirling engine constant Vde dead volume of expansion space (cm3)
d day of the year Vr regenerator volume (cm3)
Dx phase angle (°) Vsc swept volume of compression space (cm3)
EoT equation of time (min) Vse swept volume of expansion space (cm3)
HRA hour angle (°) Wc rejected thermal energy from the engine to environ-
Is solar irradiance (W/m2) ment (J)
La total area of Fresnel lenses (m2) We indicated expansion energy i.e. input thermal energy
LT local time from sun to the engine
LST local solar time Wi indicated energy (J)
LSTM local standard time meridian x crank angle variation (°)
Mg mass of working gas (g) Xdc ratio of dead volume of compression and swept volume
n engine speed (r.p.m) of expansion
Pe engine pressure (kPa) Xde ratio of dead volume of expansion and swept volume of
Pm mean pressure (kPa) expansion
Po output power of engine in one complete cycle (W) Xr ratio of regenerator volume and swept volume of
R working fluid constant (gas constant) (J/kg K) expansion
s Stirling engine constant z time (s)
t ratio of compression temperature and expansion tem- a elevation of sun (°)
perature d declination angle (°)
TC time correction factor (min) / latitude (°)
Tc fluid temperature of compression (°C) h zenith angle (°)
Te fluid temperature of expansion (°C)

temperature of 260 °C and cold end temperature of 27 °C at speed of the material. The storage density is then equal to the product of
of 600 rpm. the specific heat of the material and the temperature change. On
In the context of contemporary studies, the proposed scheme the other hand, Latent heat is the quantity of heat absorbed or
(depicted in Section 2) in the paper with some assumptions released by a material, while changing its phase at a constant tem-
(Table 1) establishes a steady power output in diverse situations. perature. A phase change material (PCM) melts and takes up
Stirling engine is driven by external heat and hence anything energy corresponding to the latent heat of the material when the
that can store thermal energy like water, rocks, concrete, pebbles, temperature increases above the melting point. Conversely,
etc., can be used as backup source of heat for its operation. the latent heat is released when the material is cooled back and
Amongst all the thermal storage system, chemical heat storage the PCM solidifies. But sensible heat storage material and PCM
has the highest potential for long term storage [24]. Heat storage progressively lose heat and are not suitable for long term storage
in the form of sensible and latent heat is the most studied technol- which is undesirable especially for polar region [25]. Materials
ogies and is at an advanced state of development [25]. Thermal used for sorption storage have the highest storage density and
energy is stored in sensible heat storage by raising the temperature some have even storage density near to that of Biomass [25].
Zeolites are alumina silicates that are considered to be most
Table 1 suitable for accumulation of heat by water adsorption–desorption
Assumptions made for system simulation. process [26]. Natural Zeolites has lower performance compared to
Parameters Assumptions their synthetic counter parts [27]. Synthetic Zeolite has larger pore
Hemisphere of the earth Northern hemisphere
size, higher specific surface area [28] and higher operating temper-
Longitude 92°E (fixed) ature [26,28] with higher experimental energy storage density
Is Depends on co-ordinates of the (124 kW h/m3) [25]. Zeolites have proved to be a favourable porous
place and season expanded structure for magnesium sulphate (MgSO4) with energy
La 3 m2
densities of 150–400 kW h/m3 at a storage temperature compati-
Rated capacity of Stirling engine 1.3 kW
Working fluid Air ble with solar-thermal collectors [24]. Whiting et al. [29], reported
R 287 J/kg K that impregnation of Zeolite Na–Y composite containing 15 wt% of
Te 500 °C MgSO4 achieved highest heat of hydration (1090 J g1). MgSO4
Tc Ambient temperature of the place with water (H2O) has energy density of 2.8 GJ/m3 [24] and hence,
n 1500
x 0–360°
MgSO4 impregnated Zeolite pellet bed is considered as storage sys-
Dx 90° tem for the plant.
Vr 0.2 cm3
Vse 500 cm3
Vsc 500 cm3
2. Methodology and description of the system
Vde 0.2 cm3
Vdc 0.2 cm3
Storage system MgSO4 impregnated Zeolite pellet The block diagram of the plant is shown in Fig. 1.
bed The operation of the plant can be divided into three stages:
Temperature of thermal energy released 500 °C Solar energy reception and concentration, conversion of thermal
by storage system
Efficiency of the alternator 80%
energy into mechanical energy and storage and release of solar-
thermal energy.